Make More Money: How to Supercharge Your Income

Nearly every morning, I get up early to go exercise at the local Crossfit gym. While I wait for it to open at 6:30, I do laps around the cold, dark parking garage with my friend Dan. Sometimes we talk about money.

This morning, for example, Dan asked, “Do you ever feel like you’re not going to make it financially?”

“I used to,” I said, “I worried about it all the time, but not anymore. I have things under control now. A lot of that is because I learned how to make more money.”

“I wish I could say that,” he said. “I just feel like I’m never going to make enough money.” Dan is a self-employed web designer in Portland, and like many entrepreneurs, his income fluctuates. Plus, he’s young, so his business hasn’t grown to its full potential.

“You know what,” I said. “I’ve had a lot of people ask about how to make more money lately. I think it’s time to write an article that rounds up everything I’ve ever written on the subject.”

So, here you go. This post is a collection of the best tips from Get Rich Slowly (and other personal-finance blogs) about boosting your income. Almost anyone should be able to find some ideas here to make more money.

Why? Well, for one thing, you can only cut your costs so far. After you’ve cut to the bone, there’s nothing left to trim. On the other hand, your income potential is unlimited — at least in theory. Unfortunately, it can be tough to generalize about ways to make more money.

For most folks, earning more means managing a career effectively: finding the right job, learning how to ask for a raise, and so on. Others can up their incomes by selling stuff they already own, pursuing money-making hobbies, or starting their own businesses. In this article, I’ve tried to cover all the bases.

Maximize Your Salary

When you think of making more money, you probably think about doing something — anything! — other than your day job. But for most folks, the day job is actually the best place to explore increased earning opportunities.

For one thing, changes you make to your salary today have residual benefits. You’re not just making more money now — you’re making more money for years to come. That’s why it’s so important to get paid your worth from the start. Giving up $5,000 a year now is actually giving up $5,000 a year for the rest of your life!

Here are some articles that can help you make more money at your current job:

Finally, I’d like to point to a two-part series I did on low-wage earners: Who earns the minimum wage? and How to escape from minimum wage. If you’re trapped in a minimum-wage job, these posts may help you feel better about your situation, or — I hope — give you some ideas for how to find a better-paying job.

Take a Second Job

When I’ve needed to make more money in the past, the first thing I’ve done is try to find a second job. It’s the first thing I’d do today if I needed to make more money. Yes, I know the economy is still shaky, but this strategy is still one of the best ways to get cash coming in on a continuous basis.

Apparently, however, I take the whole second job thing as a matter of course. I’ve done it all my life, so I assume others do it too. Because of this, I’ve only written about finding a second job once in the nearly five years of Get Rich Slowly’s existence, and that was in answer to a reader question: Is it unethical to work a second job?

Working two jobs can be tough. But you know what? It’s also one of the quickest ways to meet your financial goals. There’s a reason all of the personal-finance experts encourage folks to do this, if possible. It works. A decade ago, I was working three jobs — and my income reflected that! (Unfortunately, so did my spending.)

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, for example, workers without a high-school diploma earned on average about $21,000 in 2006. Those with a diploma earn an average of $31,000. College graduates earned an average of $57,000 in 2006, and those with an advanced degree earn over $82,000 per year. The evidence seems pretty overwhelming: If you want to make more money, seek relevant education.

Make Money from Your Hobbies

Long-time readers know how much I love stories about people who make money from their hobbies. Since starting this blog in 2006, I’ve written many times about how to use your hobbies to bring you wealth. One of the best reasons to make money from a hobby is that you already know you love to do it. If you can figure out how to get paid, that’s just icing on the cake. (Be aware, though, that sometimes doing a hobby for money turns it into a chore.)

Finally, Philip Brewer at Wise Bread once urged readers to make your hobby pay its way. I like this take on making money from hobbies because it emphasizes non-obvious ways to do so: teaching your hobby, for example, or writing articles or books.

Start a Side Business

Sometimes, money-making hobbies actually grow into side businesses. I went from tinkering with computers, for example, to running a small computer-consulting company. My friend Rich loved wine and cheese; now he runs a cheese shop in Dallas.

Side businesses can take as much or as little of your time as you’d like. For a couple of years, I worked at my computer consulting business gig a few hours a month. It earned me enough to stay in the latest computer gear, but I never wanted to grow it. But when I realized that Get Rich Slowly could be my full-time job, I went for it. I love writing, and I wanted to turn this blog from a side business into my only business.

One final note: Not everyone has the disposition to own her own business. My wife, for example, loves her job and has no desire to be an entrepreneur. Before you start a side business, be sure you understand the pros and cons of self-employment

Note
I know I wrote an entire chapter on how to make more money for Your Money: The Missing Manual. I was tempted to re-use that here, but I consciously avoided re-reading that material until I’d finished most of this article. Nearly everything here is new.

Start a Website (or a Blog)

Properly speaking, this should be in the “start a side business” or “make money from your hobbies” category. Yes, starting a website can make you money. But as any blogger will tell you, this is real work. (It took me eight hours to write this article, for example.) Still, if you have the talent and work ethic — and if you get a little lucky — you can, indeed, make money online.

One final word of caution: Although I’m fortunate enough to earn my living through this blog, it’s taken a lot of hard work and not an insignificant amount of luck. Blogging is not a path to quick riches. It’s taken five years for GRS to reach where it is today — five years of near-daily updates about personal finance. Before you turn to blogging as the answer to all of your financial woes, understand that it’s work, just like everything else on this list.

Become a Landlord

I’ll admit that this is a money-making idea I’ve been too afraid to pursue. I’ve toyed with the idea, but my wife hates it. And I don’t know enough to dive in without botching things up. Reading The Skinny on Real-Estate Investing recently gave me some idea of what’s involved, but I’m not anywhere near ready to become a landlord.

Still, there are plenty of other folks who have rented homes or rooms to earn extra cash. They often share their stories around here. Here are a few:

If you don’t want to own property, you may still be able to make money from housing. (Or, barring that, you can at least live rent-free!) My friend Sparky, for example, once spent a year managing an apartment building. He got a studio apartment for nothing, and a little bit of income on the side.

Sell Your Stuff

But you know what? That Stuff isn’t garbage — it’s money waiting to be made. No, you’re not going to get what you paid for most of your Stuff, but with a little time and effort, you can earn enough to make a dent in your debt or to save for next summer’s trip to England.

Getting rid of unused junk has two great benefits: It frees space in your home, and it puts some money in your pocket. In my mind, it’s a no-lose proposition.

Sell Your Crap

Don’t forget that former GRS staff writer Adam Baker put together an entire e-book about turning clutter into cash. Sell Your Crap is full of tips and converting for turning your Stuff into cold, hard cash.

Get Creative

This is just the handful of ideas that came to me during a quick brainstorming session. There are lots of other ways to make more money — you’re really only limited by your imagination and ambition. What do I mean? Digging through the GRS archives (and e-mailing other PF bloggers) produced the following suggestions:

Lastly, if you can track one down, pick up a copy of The Incredible Secret Money Machine. Though the title sounds scammy, this 30-year-old book is a treasure trove of ideas for making more money. (The ideas tend to be small-business related, but many of them are applicable to other sorts of money-making ventures.)

Earn $1k

Several GRS readers — including staff writer April Dykman — have told me about Ramit Sethi’s earn $1k project. I haven’t seen the content myself, so can’t vouch for it, but April loves it. I e-mailed her to see if it’s worthwhile. Her response? “It’s the reason I was able to quit my day job, so yes, I’m a big fan.”

She elaborated: “I’ve bought a lot of books on freelancing, quitting the day job, finding your passion, etc., but none of them were as tactical and step-by-step as Earn 1k. It literally changed my whole attitude about business and sales. I think it was the smartest thing I’ve ever spent money on — I’m now self-employed and making more than twice what I was making at the day job.”

The basic Earn 1k material is free. If you like what you see, you can pay to take the advanced course like April did.

Don’t Make Excuses

Whenever I write about making more money, I get comments from folks complaining that my advice won’t work for them. They have a litany of excuses that they can’t possibly boost their income:

Their commute is too long.

Their kids take up too much time.

Extra income takes too much effort.

They have some sort of physical limitation.

And so on.

Fine. I understand that not every suggestion is applicable to every reader. And I know that not everyone needs to or wants to boost their income. But here’s the thing. If you need more money, and if you have an excuse for every idea on this list, the problem may not be with the tips — it may be with you.

Cutting costs is easier than making more money. Anyone can cut costs because doing so generally requires reduced effort in the long run. But boosting income? I don’t know any way to do that without working — and usually that means working hard. There are no magic bullets! It takes time and effort. If you’re unwilling to put in that time and effort, you’ll stay where you are.

But if you are willing to make some sacrifices, you can make more money than you do now. I’ve done it. Many of my friends have done it. And lots of GRS readers have done it too. If you have found a way to make more money, please share your story in the comments below.

I personally invested in the Earn1K course and I can’t say that I regret it. I too once had a litany of excuses for not making more money. The key to get over the excuses is to look at others that have made it. Think of all of the other people with much busier schedules that have increased their incomes. Maybe that rerun of the Simpsons isn’t always the most important thing to do.

Right now my time is more valuable than money. I have been applying for grants that fall into my lap, but I haven’t been seeking them out. (That could result in up to 30K per year, but more likely 10-15K.) I also do writing and reviewing assignments that are offered, but I do them for free or I do them for up to $500… whatever they give.

I like extra money, but not enough at this point to go on the job market to increase my salary (which could be worth ~20K/year).

Right now we’re more in the position to want to pay someone to be a personal assistant to deal with all of life’s details. We’ll probably do that at the Spring term.

I also signed up for earn1k a few months ago and I do not regret it. Considering that you have lifetime access, you cannot go wrong. It costs less than a graduate level class at most colleges but is MUCH more valuable in terms of helping you increase your income.

Earning more money definitely takes a lot of hard work. There is no “easy path” or “quick fix.” Successful people may make it look easy, but that is only because they have learned how to do it well and have the experience.

Wow, what an awesome reference article. I’m booking marking this so I can always come back to it. Growing your income and diversifying your avenue stream is a definitely a must to achieve financial independent. I still think being a landlord is the way to go, it’s stodgy but it’s steady income.

Wow, what a great collection of information (from you and other bloggers) on making more money.

I’ve read a few of these posts over the years, but this makes it incredible easy to refer back to.

I’m going to make this one of my favorites in my browser… That way, whenever I’m researching a particular area (say landlording) I’ll just come back and visit…, and I would suggest that others do the same

In my response to one of your recent articles, I gave what you could interpret as “excuses” for why we don’t boost our income. But I rather see them as explanations for why we don’t want to increase our income. Not everyone needs to earn more, even if they don’t earn that much! Sure, if you are drowning in debt and looking for a way to get out or just feel that desire to boost your savings or long term investments, this is a great article for that. But the tone of the article is that this can and should apply to everyone, and if you have reasons for not doing so, you are making excuses. This is a decidedly negative slant, and I’m not sure why you have to do that.

@Jane (#10)
My frustration comes from those who want to increase their income but aren’t willing to try. If you don’t want to increase your income, that’s something completely different. That’s the the same as not wanting to start your own business because you like your current job, you know?

There’s no requirement that anyone work on making more money. Some folks don’t need to or don’t want to. But if you’re in a situation where more money is a necessity and all you can do is find reasons it can’t be done, that’s a problem.

Does that make sense?

I’ve edited that last section a bit to clarify that I’m chastising those who want/need to boost their income but make excuses.

Now it’s time for me to go do more laps in the cold, dark parking garage with Dan. I’ll be back to answer questions in a couple of hours…

It’s all a matter of getting out there and doing something rather than dreaming about it day in and day out.

Take just one step, then another, then another. That’s how I finished my bachelor’s degree after basically flunking out of college. That’s how I completed my MBA a few years later. That’s how I started MY blog with absolutely ZERO technical ability.

Thank you for the time that you have devoted to this post. Your eight hours will not be in vain. I have already written my thoughts on this article at my blog, so hopefully my few readers will make themselves over to here to educate themselves. I will surely find hours of enjoyment from the links that you provided.

@11 JD Doesn’t everyone *want* to increase their income if it could be done costlessly? At the worst you could just give the excess away to charity.

I think the point is a bit more subtle… sure we’d take free extra money, but sometimes the effort or hassle involved in making extra money isn’t worth it.

At some point you hit diminishing marginal returns to money and the marginal utility from each additional dollar is less than the marginal utility from the time (or effort) spent to create that dollar. So you stop. (Or you use your money to buy time.)

#10 Jane – I’m just not seeing that tone in this article. I also consider myself in the position that taking on extra work would be too much hassle right now with the kids and my husband’s busy work schedule. But you see, I could do something if I really wanted or needed extra income. For instance, I could watch an infant who’s not yet mobile and the child would barely be a blip on the radar screen of our busy lives.

But the truth is, my husband and I do not have an income problem. For the past few years since we became debt free (other than our mortgage), we’ve clearly had a spending problem. We should have A LOT more saved. We hope we’re now getting a handle on our spending and I read this blog for inspiration. And this was a good article.

Am I going to start babysitting? No, but income’s not our problem right now so the additional hassle isn’t worth the additional money.

@JD I would agree if you are complaining about not having enough money and create a bunch of excuses for why you can’t earn more, this is a problem. I guess when I was initially reading the article, it sounded to me like everyone should be trying to increase their income and that reasons why you are not are just excuses.

Sure, my husband and I would LOVE to have more money. As Nicole writes, doesn’t everyone? We would love to be able to save more for our sons’ college funds, prepay our mortgage more, max out our Roth IRAs, give more to charity. But we are at the point where earning more would mean making sacrifices that we aren’t willing to make. Having said this, we already sell our stuff regularly, but honestly, after years of doing this, we don’t make that much anymore.

I definitely know where you are going with that assessment. I had a job where I gave up a $30K annual bonus and a $705 monthly incentive pay because I knew how unexciting and time consuming the job would be–FOR ME.

An important piece that was missing from the article, although I do love every bit of it, is that sustained income increases should come from what we enjoy doing. Otherwise, we’ll be miserable money makers who do not have the balance in place to enjoy life.

“Stop complaining and do something about it” is exactly the point. If you are up to your eyeballs in debt, and you can’t find your way out, then you need to start thinking about what sacrifices you are willing to make. We have worked hard to get to our current status (auto loan, student loan, mortgage) and will be debt-free in about 10 years. We’re able to put away 15% in retirement and have a decent emergency fund. We know that we could be further ahead, but, for us, it’s not worth the sacrifices we would have to make. My free time goes to volunteering at my daughter’s school and keeping our lives very organized. I’m just not willing to change that right now. Maybe when she’s a little older, I’ll feel differently. Suffice it to say, we feel fortunate to be in a position where we can make the choice not to have two jobs or a side business.

I have been read your blog for a couple of years, finally decided to comment. I am a computer programmer on my day job. A couple of years ago I got an opportunity to teach a night class at a local technical school, I took it. Since then I have taught two or more classes ever quarter and pick up an extra 12-15K annually. Since I found the teaching enjoyable, it inspired me to start a bi-weekly meeting and internal blog for my dept at work. The purpose of the meeting and blog is to have people give presentations and write articles on topics of interest, with the underlying intent of creating better cmmunications and cross training. The meeting has grown from about 8 attendees to over 35. The blog is receiving better than fifty hits a day. I am hearing rumors that the senior managers have taken notice and would like for me to take these meetings to a company wide level. The lesson here is that you never know what doors will open if you pursue a second income. I never saw my career in IT leading to that of a full time training facilitor.

~5 years ago, I got an office job via a friend. I didn’t have any experience in this field, or any sort of certification. I have an AA and am about 1/2 way to a BA or BS. While I’m earning more than I have in the past, the job has become very limiting. I can’t get a 2nd job – have to be available to work late or go out of town at a moment’s notice. For the same reason, any time I try to go back to school, work interferes. It’s almost impossible to maintain a social life, volunteer, keep up with a blog, etc. with such an unstable schedule. The stable income is great, but the lack of flexibility is causing problems. Unfortunately, since I don’t have the education or certification of others in the industry, and the firm I’m at requires specific, unique skills, I can’t really move to another firm. Right now I’m just trying to scrape my pennies together to save for leaving this position and going back to school, but that’s going to take another 5 years, at least. I read everything I can get my hands on for creative money making, and have already sold everything non-essential, have a very tight budget, got a roommate, etc. Any other suggestions would be great.

First, J.D., this was an amazing article. Thanks for all your work on this to help your readers earn more money.
I teach at a community college and found several ways to use this experience to make (a little) more money. Reviewing textbooks earns a little, but also helps me find new textbooks and keep up on my field. I also write test questions for a publisher. My field (allied health) has a board exam that must be passed, so I am working with this same publisher to develop critical-thinking scenarios and other online review materials to help these students. Again, this has the advantage of making money and making me a better, more informed instructor. I’m sure other readers have ways of earning money that are win-win as well.

I write a semi-successful blog, (5000+ hits yesterday) but I’m actually stepping away from it. It was too personal and a few key readers too nasty and critical, so I’m taking a break to re-evaluate.

I recall that you mentioned at your Powell’s reading that of you had to do it all over again you would run an ad-free sight and focus instead on ebooks for income generation. I do have ads on The Non-Consumer Advocate, but they’re part of the BlogHer network and tend to run towards 1950′s housewifely products, which isn’t my thang. Also, I’m not making much money at all, yet look like I sold out to advertisers, which doesn’t mesh with what I write about.

I think I’m going to dip my toe into the e-book genre and see where that takes me.

For the past few years I’ve been trying to think of ways to increase my income. I’ve had many different ideas, however, I never actively pursue them, only passively. The thing I realized about myself is that I am unable to put full effort into these ideas because of my lifestyle.

Because of this, I’ve made it my main priority to declutter my life and become more organized. Only after I accomplish that will I be able to move forward with my other ventures.

Great article JD! As others have said it is a terrific reference for those who “want” more income. It certainly does not apply to all, but it does show that for those that need to make more, there are many ways to do it.

What I find that ususally stands in the way of earning more is a lack of motivation,incentive or a plan. Once the decision is made to move forward, nothing should stop you from meeting your goal of more income.

Starting a side business is a scary thing until you’ve done it once. Once you’ve done it the first time you start seeing opportunities everywhere and the problem becomes maintaining focus.

–

Well aware that I didn’t know how to do EVERYTHING related to web programming, I was unwilling to make websites for anyone except close family and friends. I didn’t want to get in over my head and disappoint a customer.

Finally between GRS, I Will Teach You To Be Rich and Free Money Finance — and seeing less technical associates make money doing things I could do better — I took the plunge.

I now build websites for people pretty regularly, and it makes for a fantastic side job.

Turning your hobbies into an income worked really well for me. In addition to my day time job I also blog and do personal training. Those are both fun activities for me which means I don’t see them as an additional burden I HAVE to do, and the extra income is nice.

Thanks for all your efforts putting this list together. I can’t wait to start reading through the links. There are parallels here for businesses, and the broader economy. When times get tight, everyone looks for ways to cut, and yeah, we can all cut something. Every budget has some fat. But you can only cut so much, or as the saying goes, you can’t cut your way to greatness. If one income stream isn’t providing enough, then you need another one — a new product or service, or for an individual, another way of bringing in cash. I was so annoyed by that scene in the Millionaire Next Door of the millionaire’s wife cutting coupons after being given $8 million in stock in an IPO. It was portrayed as this great frugal virtue, but the reality is that saving 25 cents here and there is unlikely to make you rich, particularly in an era when the stock market is flat. What might? Oh, building a business that has an IPO?

thank you so much for such a comprehensive article. i’m be holding onto for a long time in my inbox as i go thru all the links. re 2nd jobs. i worked 7 days a year for 7 years at a very full time regular job (50-60 hrs a week)+ selling at a retail shop on the weekends. it created a very nice income. it also, like you said JD, caused me to spend more on convenience items, eating out, etc., because i had no time. so perhaps it was a wash in the scheme of things. but that was before the internet. now you can work at home (if you want to and your skills can support that) and not have all the expenses associated with working outside. what i am trying to do, is create about 3 part-time jobs, 2 of which i can do at home, the third, just for some balance, outside the home. even if the third is a small p/t J.O.B., that’s okay because I’ll be satisfying my creative/entrepreneurial urges with the other 2. but it is a LOT of work. most people who work multiple jobs are very motivated either by need or desire. if you’re not that way, it’s harder to do that. there is also a money making mindset. some people just look at things from the standpoint of making or saving dollars, others don’t. it can be an acquired skill, but only if you need/want it.

Oh, and I did want to add Chris Guillibeau’s (sp?) blog, “The Art of Non-conformity” (I got to here from there I believe) as a well written and thoughtful blog on doing what you want. He’s a traveler doing what he loves, but the blog isn’t about travel per se, it’s about following your dreams. He gives concrete advice, shares his own journey with blogging and like GRS, the amount of useful content on his site is fabulous.

I can see both sides of the “excuses” coin. Our son was diagnosed last year with an autism spectrum disorder. Between the unpredictability of when he will have trouble processing a situation and the added responsibilities of shepherding him to various appointments and tests, I’ve found that I’m worn out and exhausted. I had to cut my freelance work down to one really easy-going client who has flexible deadlines, and I have not pursued opportunities at work that would have been great for my career but would have negatively impacted my son’s care. (Note: the shift in focus has been paying off–my son has been doing great this year!)

On the other hand, a number of years ago I had a good-paying steady gig and got comfortable just doing my 9-5 job. I was lazy and didn’t want to take on any extra work. When that job unexpectedly disappeared, the people who had been putting in the extra effort to do freelance had both income coming in plus a boatload of contacts who were able to help them network to find new positions. I was among the crowd who only had spent time at work. None of my contacts could help me, because they were all unemployed as well.

What I’ve been doing lately is trying to work on personal projects, as I can pick them up or put them aside depending on how much time I have available, with the idea that eventually I can use them as examples to gain paid freelance work. It’s not a “perfect” solution, but at least I’m still doing something to further my career, without ignoring my son’s immediate needs. Eventually, as my son grows older, he should gain more coping skills and need far less assistance from me, so I hope to be able to gradually ramp back up and take on extra work.

@Nancy–Your situation hardly sounds like you’re making an excuse, and despite having a very good reason for not having time to pick up extra work, you’re still doing something bring in extra income. I guess I just want to say that’s really admirable.

I don’t want to speak for J.D., but I think he’s referring more to people who *do* actually have the time if they’d quit complaining, watching hours of TV, thinking of reasons nothing is applicable to them, etc.

I’m as guilty of that as anyone else. For years I’d come up with ideas, only to immediately think of 10 reasons they couldn’t work and dismiss the ideas altogether. This is why I think informational interviews are so great. If you think you can’t do something because of XYZ, go find someone in a similar situation who IS doing it, and find out how.

I do agree that there are special circumstances like yours, but it sounds like you’re still earning extra money, even if it’s less than you could if you had more time to put into it, and you’re doing things to help grow your business in the future.

I’ve been reading your blog for years and took the focus on boosting income to heart finally in August. I took on making felt hair clips in the evenings and have been selling them online & signed up for two local holiday bazaars. I’m hoping sales will cover the cost of our Christmas gifts & travel expenses this year. After Christmas I’m hoping to visit some local boutiques to see if they would be willing to carry my clips in their stores. Thanks for all the encouragement to do this. I’ll admit it took me awhile to actually find something that I enjoy making & knew people would pay for (my online sales have been great so far). I agree with you, it is a lot of WORK to figure out what to make, how to make it efficiently & how to sell it. I think it is well worth it, though, to have an added income stream no matter how small it is.

It is important to get up and do something about your financial situation IF you are not happy with it. I am debt free except for the house, but we don’t make a lot of money. Looking into the future, I don’t see us retiring at 65. That is my motivation. I’m trying different things, doing a lot of reading and soul searching to find out what activity brings joy to my life, and hope to earn income by doing that.

This is such an awesome post. Just recently I had a conversation with a friend that resulted in one of my most touching post so far. (I’m new to tbe blogging world) It’s interesting how speaking with people can stir up thoughts you would like to share with others.

Looking over the list, I have tried a small handful of the suggestions over the past few years. I recently sold my website/business because after two years, it was becoming more of a financial drain than the other way around.

You can do one or some of the suggestions, but there are still no guarantees. Now I’m contemplating going back to school while dealing with a chronic illness. I do want to get back into the workforce, but it feels like so much is up in the air in terms of health, my education, etc…

The extra income I generate isn’t through means available to everyone, but if you have the opportunity, it’s probably one of the most lucrative options available: modeling.

I’ve had jobs that pay $250/hour plus travel expenses, and even “normal” work pays $75-100/hour. Because of this, I can work 2-3 days a MONTH (in addition to my M-F 7-4 job) and make the same as someone pulling 10-20 hours a WEEK at Best Buy, and essentially get paid trips all over the country.

I’m single, 24 years old, and have been blessed with good genes and physique to make this possible. I know this combination won’t last forever, so I’m taking advantage of it while I can – the extra income is funding classes towards an advanced degree

You know what would be really cool, taking these ideas and getting a $/hr breakdown, And then starting to think about your time frugality rather than just money. Some things are low-hanging fruit in frugality, just like some jobs would be the best earners for your time. I think my next step of frugality is going to be making sure my time matches my values, my money already does.

Thanks April for the kind words. I think what I’m getting at is that I really do *want* to increase my income. And I can totally see the value of all of JD’s suggestions. But in my own life and with what I have as my current priorities, if I tried to follow the suggestions here, I’d end up being another “Yeah but’er”. “Yeah, but I can’t go after that promotion because I’d have to travel too much.” “Yeah, but I can’t take on that extra work, because I might need to spend the afternoon helping my son calm down.” In my case, perhaps my “yeah, buts” are more understandable than someone saying “Yeah, but then I’d have to miss Dancing with the Stars!”, but they are still “excuses” as to why I can’t do something that I otherwise say I want to do.

In my own circumstance, I had to actually come to terms with the fact that I could *say* I wanted to earn more money and wanted to grow my career, but it truly wasn’t my highest priority right now. It really took me a while to accept that fact, especially given my past experiences where my lack of outside effort hurt me. Now that I realize that, I’m honest with myself. If I was sitting at a coffee house talking with JD, I wouldn’t be complaining about not having ways to earn money. Instead I’d talk more about what I can do in terms of networking and positioning myself now, so that when I am ready to get back to prioritizing my career, I have set myself up to succeed.

@30–exactly what I was thinking about an extra job. My extra job might be a wash! I tend to eat out more even though I’m only making about $100 a week! It’s OK though. This job doesn’t pay much but it’s fun. Strange thing is that I have inherited the work, work, work gene from my dad! My husband has asking me about hobbies or doing something I like for years. So, now I have a paying jobby I guess you could say.

With the increase in fuel and eating out a little extra I do wonder about how wise it is…

EASILY one of the best articles you’ve ever assembled. Great info and succinctly put together. I’ve bookmarked it, starred it in Google Reader, and plan to check back from time to time. Great work, man.

I think that these kinds of articles can be problematic because it really isn’t that easy to find a second (or first!) job right now, and once you’ve sold all your extra stuff, you can’t keep doing it, and as a recent PhD, let me tell you that increasing your education guarantees you nothing.

I just think things have to be a bit more realistically considered – and, this comes from someone with 2 jobs, a PhD, a bunch of applications in front of her, and professional conferences coming up as well. But then again, my partner got her graduate degree 6 months ago and hasn’t been able to find a job in her field, or temp work, or retail work, in that time.

It’s not about excuses – its about reality – just because someone does 1 or more of these things, doesn’t mean they are set with extra income.

@Stefanie (#48)
You’re right that education and experience don’t provide guarantees. But what they do is increase your odds. In many ways, making money (and living life) is a game of statistics. And the more you can stack the odds in your favor, the better chances you have of meeting your goals.

There are no guarantees in life, but you can sure as hell do everything in your power to make sure things go your way!

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